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Wedge My new toy: 1981 TR-8

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Jody,
I have a 1980 TR8 convert. I am doing the Saturn alternator upgrade as well. However, a few issues have come up.
How did you handle the V-belt pulley problem?
Did you have any voltage regulator issues?
Did you use a heavier gage wire that connected to the alternator post, or did you double up on the wire? I understand the wire heats up unless you dbl. up or use a heavier gage because of the added amps.
Any other issues that come to mind? Any problems associated with this upgrade?
Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Mike
 
Mike,

What v-belt pulley problem? Obtaining one?

As to wiring, I rewired the entire charging circuit on the car, so everything's 2 gauge now.

I actually had a huge problem with the upgrade: shoddy alternators. I went through ~5 alternators from Autozone before I gave up and had the original lucas rebuilt.
 
I just got a bolt on 95 amp replacement from BNR, who made up my TR6 95 amp. It came with a pulley and was brand new. If you look at my TR6 site here, you will see it. New 95 Amp Alternator
 
Jody,

I am upgrading my alternator per an article and discussion (thewedgeshop.com), with a 95 amp 1995 Saturn SL2 alternator. I have been looking on other TR sites to answer some of the questions I have. I found the information on this site that you had done an upgrade.
The pulley problem stems from the Saturn alt. comes with a serpentine pulley, whereas the TR8 has a V-belt pulley. This brings up the issue of the two alt's. having the same shaft size? If not, where did you go for the Saturn shaft V-belt pulley?
The wiring question arises from Roger Williams book "How to Improve Triumph TR7/TR8 ..." where he discusses doubling up on the power side of the alternator to the starter.
Are you saying you did not do the upgrade? If not, has anyone else tried this upgrade?
 
OK, I did the upgrade (and subsequently undid it).

1) Pulley - My local NAPA had a collection of alternator pulleys in the back room. I swapped out the serpentine for one that they gave me. Alternatively you can go to any alternator shop and get one. And the pulley shaft on the lder Lucal unit is a different diameter than the modern GM one.

2)Wiring - I redid the wiring circuit from scratch. When I replaced the wire from the Alternator to the Starter I used 2 gauge wire. I'm afraid I don't remember what the gauge of the wire replaced was. I, personally, will always prefer to use a single large gauge wire rather than two smaller gauge wires.

Now, the reason for undoing the upgrade was that every alternator I sourced locally (Phoenix) went south on me within a 24-48 hour period. They are all remanufactured units from Autozone. I got tired of replacing these alternators as, at that point, the upgrade had done me no good. So I took my old Lucas alt to a local alternator shpo and had them rebuild it.

Ironically, it appears that they may have rebuilt it wrong. If I leave the battery connected it gets drained from full to 0 in under 24 hours. Generally the only thing in the electrical system capable of drainage like that is a faulty diode in the alterator.

So I get to pull it tomorrow and take it back to the alternator shop.
 
Jody,

Sounds like you are in need of some luck.
What you wrote clears up some of the questions I had. You said you used a 2 gauge wire from the alt. to starter. I was looking over the wiring diagram from my factory repair book and I noticed that a brown wire ran from the alt. to the starter (also, wire from plus side of battery). I assume this is the heavy gauge wire in our discussion? Is this the power feed from the battery to starter then on to the alt? There are also two small gauge wires (1-brown to a pole (?), 1-brown/yellow going to the ignition warning light (?). This may be a lot to remember, but the reason I'm asking is I followed the wiring from my alt. under the engine to an entry into the firewall. I'm trying to get this straight in my head as well as learn something. I would have thought the wire to the starter would have been direct and not into the firewall to somewhere else. Maybe I missed somthing on my car?
Is this the way you recall it?
Thanks again for your help.

Mike
 
Mike,

Yeah, my experience with this car has so far been less than fantastic. My main issue has been back luck on the alternator front combined with a lot of bad/bodged/burned wiring.

Aside from the alternator wire, the brown wire is the Sense wire. It determines the system voltage and tells the alternator to supply more/less to the system. The other wire (brown/yellow) is the ignition warning light. Both of these basically run through the engine harness and into the dash. The brown picks up the supplied voltage somewhere in the underdash harness, the brown/yellow goes all the way into the gauge cluster to trigger one of the idiot lights.

Now in terms of the primary wiring (large gauge stuff) the circuit is as follows: Negative battery cable connects to body in the boot and to negative terminal on the battery. Positive cable runs through the vehicle underneath the carpet. Up in the passenger footwell you can see the other half where the special (and unobtainum) brown lucas wiring splice is wrapped on the positive cable. The two wires off of this supply power to the fuses and subsequently to the rest of the non-starter/alternator powered aspects of the vehicle. The third small gauge wire connected to that is the Sense wire which goes out to the alternator. That postive battery cable then snakes through the firewall and down to the starter. From there another cable runs from the same starter post over to the alternator. What makes it all look strange is merely that the battery is in the trunk, and because of this the wiring needs to reach it (as opposed to the battery being in the engine compartment which is much more obvious).

Have you seen this video?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPkhPbojUKs

Jody
 
Jody,
Well, I finally finished installing the alt. upgrade. However, when I turned on the ignition-does not turn over. I checked the battery-12.18V. The instrument panel has two lights lit-seat belt and battery (?). But the IGN light and all others do not light. All other items work fine-headlights, buzzer, etc.
When I turn the key several times I do hear 'tick' sound comming from the glovebox. Does this indicate a blown starter relay?
I rechecked my wiring and it seems fine.
Any ideas?
 
maybe a poor ground connection in the trunk.
 
You need to make sure you have a good ground in the engine bay. I had the same issue with my TR8 coupe. It turned out to be the ground from the engine to the body was either poor contact or since it was multiple, braided wires insufficient. I put one ground in the same gauge as the positive lead and she cranked right over!
 
I had the TR8 out last night. We were cruising around with the headlights, front & rear fogs & radio on and the needle barely moved off 3/4. I did my alternator early this summer and have not had a single issue.

The only difference between my alternator and Jody's failure rate is I bought mine from a rebuild shop that is known for industrial electric rebuilds.

Personally, now that I have read back through this thread, I would still do this conversion, but make sure you get to a reputable rebuild shop for the part. It sounds like Autozone & such are not up to par.
 
mlapage said:
Jody,
Well, I finally finished installing the alt. upgrade. However, when I turned on the ignition-does not turn over. I checked the battery-12.18V. The instrument panel has two lights lit-seat belt and battery (?). But the IGN light and all others do not light. All other items work fine-headlights, buzzer, etc.
When I turn the key several times I do hear 'tick' sound comming from the glovebox. Does this indicate a blown starter relay?
I rechecked my wiring and it seems fine.
Any ideas?
Click to expand...

Read through this entire thread....
TR8 Delco Replacement thread

Especially page 4... to make sure have this wired correctly.

If you turn the key to the first position and IGN light does not come one, the sense wire is not making contact. Why? Who knows, but if it looks to be wired right, out comes the alternator for a bench test.
 
GBR, I have read the 'replacement thread'. I am also going to look at grounding. Anything special you do in this regard.
I have been thinking about all the things I did in this upgrade. One place that could be a question mark is at the alternator connections. I'm thinking of cutting off the connectors and making a wire-to-wire connection and see what happens. If this fails, I will take the alt. in for a test, as you suggest. Otherwise, I'm at a loss except replacing the starter relay.
Could the placing of the battery cables caused an energy 'spike' causing the relay to blow?
Anyone with any thoughts on this?
 
I was out looking at 'ground' wiring and was checking starting again. I noticed when I attached the battery cables and went to start the car the IGN light was lit. When I inserted the key and turned it the IGN light went out. I did not tighten the battery cables on the terminals.
Is the IGN light, being lit, a function of my procedure or an indication of something more seriously wrong?
Thanks for any help.
 
The Ig light was on when you didn't have the key in the start pos.?
 
Don,
Yes, when I placed the battery cables back onto the battery and went to start the car, I noticed the IGN light lit before I turned the key.
Today I tried a new starter relay and when I inserted the key the IGN light was not lit. However, when I turned the key only the two panel lights lit as before.
Then I checked the lights by flipping on the switch. Now the headlights go up separately and in small jumps. There is a short buzz from the headlight relay that coninsides with the small headlight jumps.
I am trying to get the grounding wires off to check, but so far no luck, they are quite corroded.
 
Todd, a little help please

I'm thinking a funky ground ,but what do I know.

<span style="font-size: 26pt">TODD</span>
 
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